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HALLOWEEN AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL – NOSFERATU, The Vampire Film Classic of 1922

F.W. Murnau’s iconic masterpiece will be accompanied on the Ruffatti Organ by the incomparable Dennis James

By Seán Martinfield
Sentinel Editor and Publisher
Photo by Lynn Imanaka

NOSFERATU, directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, is one of the most important films to emerge from the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s. The film is based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula. Known as Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (A Symphony of Horrors), the film was produced and released without the permission of Stoker’s surviving widow, Florence, who together with her British attorneys won a court battle to have the circulating prints confiscated and the negative destroyed. Had she been infused with a couple o’ pints of royalties, the case would never have seen the light of day. Fortunately, before the sun came up, a number of pirated copies were spirited away – perhaps to the shadowy crags of the Carpathian Mountains where some of the exterior scenes were shot.

NOSFERATU (1922). Directed by F.W. Murnau

BRAM STOKER, author of Dracula and F.W. MURNAU, Director

MAX SCHRECK – as “Count Orlok”. Nosferatu, 1922

Dennis James is recognized as the greatest interpreter and arranger of authentic silent film music for the organ. He will accompany Nosferatu on the magnificent Davies Hall Ruffatti Organ. Percussionists Mark Goldstein and Todd Manley will pump extra blood chilling thrills to the score. Mr. James was a sensation last Halloween with his fantastic and emotionally charged scoring of Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera. Earlier this year at the Silent Film Festival, he accompanied Murnau’s 1927 masterpiece, Sunrise, on the Castro Theatre’s mighty Wurlitzer. Dennis James again proved himself the master at revealing psychological complexities and the deep undercurrents of plot development. And for the featured stars of Sunrise, George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor, Mr. James balanced director Murnau’s enormous arc of emotions ranging between murderous rage and the most heart-breaking expressions of forgiveness and eternal love. Click here for ticket information: NOSFERATU

Greta Schröder as “Ellen Hutter” and Max Schreck as “Count Orlok”

DENNIS JAMES and SEÁN MARTINFIELD. Photo, Rory McNamara